The Build Back Better bill, which is how the reconciliation only legislation has been branded, DOES NOT ACTUALLY EXIST!!!!! What does exist is a series of legislative frameworks and requests from the White House, the latest of which President Biden released this morning shortly after his press conference on the topic and different possible legislative language bouncing around the Senate from different Democratic senators. There is no actual, cohesive, final bill written. It is unclear when, if at all, such an actual, cohesive, final bill will be written.
The problem with the list that WG provided in her post a little while ago is that NONE OF WHAT IS LISTED BELOW THE EMBEDDED VIDEO IS IN THE BILL BECAUSE THERE IS NO BILL!!!! What there is, right now, is the third or fourth proposed framework for what President Biden will accept at a minimum in a reconciliation bill. There is no legislation written from that framework yet. There is no clear, firm, unequivocal commitment from either Senator Manchin or Senator Sinema that they’ll support a reconciliation bill written to Biden’s framework. And the House Progressive Caucus, as well as at least five Senate Democrats, have made it pretty clear in the last several hours they don’t trust either of them enough to take the leap of faith and pass the regular order infrastructure bill through the House unless it is tethered to the reconciliation bill. Which, and again, DOES NOT CURRENTLY EXIST!!!!
And I can’t say anyone could or should blame them:
Again- just like the statement from sinema this is not good. How can the speaker sell these comments to her caucus https://t.co/f1fsWI4GSk
— jim manley (@jamespmanley) October 28, 2021
We live in the real world. We don’t live in fantasy land where things just work out because they always sort of, if you squint from a certain angle, have in the past. There’s nothing to post on what is in the bill each week because what may or may not be in the bill changes several times an hour because neither Manchin nor Sinema will actually clearly, firmly, and unequivocally commit to anything. There’s a reason that as good a communicator and vote counter as Congresswoman Jayapal has demonstrated she is through all of this insanity for the past several month, Jayapal won’t get into specifics because she doesn’t have any specifics to go into. There’s what she and her caucus want, there’s what they’ll support if Biden says support it, and there’s the reality that all that exists on the Senate Democratic side is a constantly shifting list of what might, possibly be included depending on what time of the day someone asks Senators Manchin and/or Sinema about it.
That’s the reality of where we’re at. It is not where any of us want to be. But we’re here. And by the way, we’re not just here because of Senators Manchin and Sinema, we’re here because not a single Republican senator will support anything that President Biden proposes even when they, themselves, personally support the idea. Senator Manchin drafted his voting rights bill, that failed to get a single Republican vote to clear the cloture threshold last week, with Senator Murkowski. She still voted to prevent it from even moving to debate. All those Republican senators and representatives that negotiated and helped draft the regular order infrastructure bill now oppose it. And while it passed the Senate with a dozen or so Republican votes, the entire House GOP caucus opposes it. And we’re also not just here because the Republican Party has decided it has no interests in governing, just ruling, but because the news media, especially the political reporters covering national politics cover everything as if the Republicans have no agency. That everything is the Democrats responsibility and therefore fault. Here’s currently on paid medical leave because CNN provides it Kasie Hunt providing an example of this:
If paid leave is left out of this bill, I’m going to spend the midterms covering how suburban women who turned on the GOP over Trump are responding to Democratic governing in DC — especially after the pandemic
— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) October 28, 2021
You know who doesn’t support paid medical leave at all, for any reason, for anyone? EVERY SINGLE REPUBLICAN SENATOR AND REPRESENTATIVE!!!! But Kasie here is going to make it her personal mission in life not reporting, but on setting the narrative that the Democrats have somehow failed, once again, to save everyone from the fact that the Republicans will not do anything or support anything that is actually beneficial to the vast majority of Americans.
This is where we actually are. This is the actual reality. The Democrats are not in disarray. Each proposed framework, from Senator Sander’s original $600 billion per year equaling $6 trillion over 10 years reconciliation package to the initial compromise $350 billion per year equaling $3.5 trillion over 10 years to today’s compromise on the compromise framework is in line with what President Biden campaigned on, what all but a handful of Democratic representatives and 2 Democratic senators unequivocally support. Where we are is that the the Senate and House Republican caucuses refuse to lead, refuse to follow, and refuse to get out of the way because their objective is to rule. And the news media, especially the political reporters that cover DC, have a narrative, which is that the Democrats must always be the responsible actors and do something, regardless of what the Republicans do because Republicans and their actions get written about in the passive voice, which just turns everything into a big schmoz and confuses every issue unless one is paying very close attention. The do the same thing when they cover state level politics regarding redistricting, the pandemic, this entirely fabricated moral panic around CRT, etc. It’s why we have 23 states where Republicans control the governorships and the state houses as a result of extreme gerrymanders and voter suppression legislation. In those states there is no liberal democracy as voters cannot actually choose their representatives. Rather, in almost half of the states in the United States we have different variations of Orban’s and Putin’s managed, illiberal democracies!!!! The only person who regularly covers this is Ari Berman at Mother Jones. And the only chance at even remotely combating it right now is Marc Elias’s legal team.
Just yesterday Governor DeSantis finally set the dates for the state constitutionally mandated special elections to fill three state legislative seats that are open. All three are in minority majority districts and will almost certainly be filled by Democrats of color. When did he set the date for the general election to fill these seats? Three days before the end of Florida’s next legislative session. The people living in those districts will have NO REPRESENTATION DURING FLORIDA’s 2022 LEGISLATIVE SESSION!!!!
We can either deal with the actual reality we’re facing or we can live in fantasy land. The latter may be more mentally and emotionally comfortable, but ultimately reality is interested in you even if you are not interested in it.
Open thread!
The Dangerman
So, this is the Pop Quisling follow up.
Betty Cracker
Just gonna drop this here because W the actual F…
zhena gogolia
Okay, time to leave again.
Betty Cracker
Also, thank you for highlighting that Kacie Hunt tweet. It really symbolizes everything we’re up against with the fucking media.
MisterForkbeard
What drives me nuts about this is that Manchin and Sinema just aren’t team players. They aren’t even willing to appear like they’re working in good faith – they’re just demanding total fealty to their own requests (which they won’t even make public) and won’t even bother to say they’ll do it.
They’ve basically turned the whole thing into a credibility draining shitshow. We’ll get something, but it’ll be massively punishing to the Democratic Party’s optics for no real reason at all.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
I think we need to replace WTF with a stronger, more appropriate acronym for this new reality.
Kropacetic
That all may be, but the people actually involved in the negotiations are sending strong signals that this is where we’re likely going to land on BBB. Voting (eta voting rights) should be next. Allowing ourselves a tender moment of hope won’t hurt.
Baud
OT (warning, Politico)
Starfish
@Betty Cracker: They are trying to be social media stars by picking up on a popular trend. Basically, they are trying to be MTG and Lauren Boebert but less successfully.
Adam L Silverman
@Kropacetic: There is nothing to vote on! There is no bill. Until there’s a bill actually written and until a vote is scheduled, there is nothing to vote on. If they had a bill and they had a commitment on the votes, they’d be voting on it. They have neither, which is why they’re not doing anything but talking.
Baud
@Starfish: What’s the popular trend?
Kropacetic
@Baud: Wow, someone’s getting two slaps on the wrist…
Kidding, but it will be awesome if this initiative manifests teeth.
Kelly
Thread needs a kitten
youtube.com/watch?v=Y5L_wTDqqnU&ab_channel=ABC10
Starfish
@Baud: The popular trend is “No one will STFU about Ted Lasso.”
Baud
@Starfish: Ah, I don’t have Apple TV, so I’m totally out of the loop on all things Lasso.
Kropacetic
@Adam L Silverman: i meant voting rights not voting on the bill. Edited my comment already to clarify.
But my point was that we’re getting signals this is nearing a resolution. Please allow us a sigh of relief even if we’re not quite there.
That light at the end of the tunnel might just not be a train.
Served
@Betty Cracker: I guess this will help her appeal to those Arizona Mormon voters?
Also not surprising that the one time she doesn’t dress in a costume is for a Halloween photo.
Starfish
@Baud: Here is the relationship that they are trying to recreate.
Starfish
@Kropacetic: They have been almost agreeing for about a month now. Listening to the list of things that are not going to be in the bill is getting old.
Baud
@Starfish: Thanks.
Kropacetic
@Starfish: Wasn’t the list we were just provided in the downstairs post things that were expected to be in the bill?
If this really holds we got some good legislation on our hands.
Xavier
I think it’s more accurate to say that the Republican objective is to prevent the Democratic majority from ruling. Republicans basically just don’t believe that the government has any business promoting the general welfare. Democrats do.
Betty Cracker
@Kropacetic: I have no way of knowing, of course, but I suspect Biden gave that speech today and set expectations that a bill is imminent to DARE those two fuck-sticks in the Senate and their scrum of No Labels pals in the House to tank it.
Redshift
Yeah, while we’re complaining about the media not covering what’s in the bill, we definitely shouldn’t talk about that, only about Manchin and Sinema and Dems in disarray.
We’re not stupid, we know nothing’s “in the bill” until it actually passes. It doesn’t hurt to have some discussion of the really good things 97% of Democratic legislators are pushing for, and not incidentally produce things to share around for people we know who aren’t getting that from the media.
SiubhanDuinne
@Betty Cracker:
Jesus. When Kasie Hunt left MSNBC a few weeks ago, I thought/hoped we were well and truly done with her.
Alas, and sigh, and lackaday.
germy
Kropacetic
@Betty Cracker: Then good on Biden say I, someone of rather little importance.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
WTABEELMFVGJHF?
(What The Actual Blue-Eyed Ever-Loving Mother-Fucking Vegetable Garden Junior High Fuck?)
Alison Rose
@Betty Cracker: This is like the opposite of porn.
Omnes Omnibus
There will be a bill. It will have contents. Posts discussing those contents will be perfectly appropriate.
germy
Kropacetic
@Omnes Omnibus: What if, say, there was a comprehensive framework put out just that day by one of the most influential players involved? That discussion-worthy?
Baud
Y’all making fun of the Lasso parody, but it seems to be getting play, which is what it was designed to do.
Betty Cracker
Two thoughts on this: 1) She’s definitely leaving the door open to demand more cuts, and 2) Hillary Clinton was right about the adjective “everyday” when applied to “families,” “Americans,” etc. It does sound condescending AF.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: There may be a bill. It may have contents. There may also not be a bill and there may also not be any contents.
cain
@Xavier:
Yeah, but then what are these two doing – nobody has any clue what the fuck they want. In some ways, I think Manchin just wants to go back to the 90s Democratic party where we just pal around with corporatists all the time. What a loon.
Sinema though – god she’s a hot mess.
Woodrow/asim
This blog serves multiple masters, if you will, and I begin to fear part of the issue is that it’s mandate is splintered and split.
Adam: If you’re going to stomp — and I mean, stomp brutally, with bold text and capital letters, on what WaterGirl posted…man, I don’t know. She asked if there was interest in explainers; she didn’t demand it get done, or even assume how in any deep way. In fact, I recall at least one commentor made the point that an explainer might wait for the final bill at least, if not passage, and that seems a good approach.
And I wonder why any other concerns, such as yours, weren’t raised in that spirit. Demanding we all live in reality in this way? Is this wise? Is this right for the audience? Is this the only way to say what you think we all must know?
I mean, I can’t say I’ve not commented in anger. Yet there’s a line, I feel, between commenting and “front-paging,” if you will. It’s of a piece with Cole’s more anger-driven posting; we get it, many of us feel it, yet it feels…off, if this blog is as much a political-motivating space as it is anything else. You can talk to reality, without dispiriting the people involved. You can provide correction without speaking in ways that enhance risk around misplaced aggression and backlash.
To sum up: I strongly feel there were better ways to express discomfort in the approach. If WaterGirl, and those of us who agree with her approach, are wrong? I’m sure a thoughtful correction would go as far as this post, without pushing buttons that, in this case, may not needed to be pushed.
Benw
@Woodrow/asim: strongly seconded. Thanks
Ksmiami
@Adam L Silverman: thank you for being honest. I don’t trust Manchin or Sinema not to thumbs down the bbb at the last and most treacherous moment. And I think we should all be prepared for that outcome
Juju
@Baud: I’d go with “What the ever living fuck is wrong with you dumbass fuckers? Holy shit did someone drop you on your head multiple times when you were a baby?”
Juju
Kasie Hunt is a dipshit.
Ksmiami
@Juju: she’s getting ratioed hard in the Twitterverse…
Ella in New Mexico
I am so frigging exhausted with the blow-by-blow outrage.
Do I have to get angry and upset about every little agonizing step in this process or can I reserve it for the final product?
Omnes Omnibus
@Kropacetic: Take it up with Adam. He is the one who is bothered.
Ksmiami
@Baud: What the fucking fuck you fucking dipshit fucking fuckers… now fuck off.”? I guess the abbreviation would be WTFFYFDFFNFO!!!
Juju
@SiubhanDuinne: Ooh, I like that.
Alison Rose
@Woodrow/asim: thank you
zhena gogolia
@Woodrow/asim:
@Benw: Same here.
SpaceUnit
I know we’re all sick of having to talk about the never-ending drama of Manchin and Sinema, but it’s just all so stupidly chickenshit. Okay, so all they really care about is their re-election prospects in admittedly difficult states, but infrastructure funding is pretty much the least sexy item on the Fox News Wheel Of Outrage. And if the Dems get a win it will get tossed down the memory hole in the blink of an eye.
When these two are up for re-election, the last thing their opponents will be attacking them on is a goddamn infrastructure bill. Their opponents will be campaigning on Critical Race Theory or some other idiotic nonsense . . . whatever latest conspiracy theory that’s making the rounds on right wing media. Nobody’s going to care about this legislation.
ETA: But it would actually help their constituents!
Omnes Omnibus
@Woodrow/asim: Well said.
Kropacetic
@Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, sorry, no shade intended toward you.
SiubhanDuinne
Oh thank god. Problem totally solved.
brendancalling
@SiubhanDuinne: Nah, she’s like a case of herpes.
prostratedragon
@Woodrow/asim: Thanks for your patience in explaining that. I think there’s an important difference between being prepared to accept a bad outcome if we must, and presuming one. Or as my driving instructor used to say, if you stare at th edge of the road, you’re liable to steer off it. Focus on where you’re going and use peripheral awareness for the rest.
germy
@SiubhanDuinne:
I cried because I had no shoes, until I Meta billionaire who might see his taxes go up.
Woodrow/asim
Thanks everyone.
Madeleine
@Woodrow/asim: Thanks.
dopey-o
what will happen if no BBB bill passes? This will be a huge win for the GOP (and for Manchin and Sinema).
Dems will go into the 2022 election with nothing and no message.
other than promising to support Manchin and Sinema’s opponents in 2024, what can we do? I feel like these 2 divas are holding 95% of America hostage, and we have no leverage.
The Moar You Know
@Betty Cracker: when politicians of any stripe talk about “everyday people”, they mean “filthy poors” and don’t think that everyone, including the filthy poors, don’t know it. We all know.
Also just want to point out that by “deplorables” she really did mean every Republican in the United States and she was absolutely right. She can’t say she meant all of them. But we can. They are truly, truly deplorable.
SiubhanDuinne
@germy:
[snort]
Kay
@Woodrow/asim:
I think that’s the real split. IMO the site was never really a political motivating space. It could become one, maybe it will, but it hasn’t been that. Adam’s debating politics and you guys are organizing. Those are two very different things.
Juju
@Ksmiami: if that’s anything like tearing her a new one, I’m good with that.
I look at Twitter stuff from time to time, but am not on any social media. It’s the one benefit to having had a stalker.
Ksmiami
@Juju: I’m sorry u had a creepy psycho experience… but yeah that’s my profanity laced cut down that I’m prepared to use if I’m ever in the vicinity of any of these politicians i loathe from Cruz to Sinema
SpaceUnit
@dopey-o:
If no bill passes it greatly increases the chances of Sinema and Manchin getting a primary challenge. (okay, maybe not Manchin. IDK).
But it will almost certainly drive down Democratic voter enthusiasm in 2022 and probably 2024, which will be good for neither senator. Or anybody else, other than repubs.
It’s just dumb. Again, chickenshit + stupid.
lowtechcyclist
Dude. Take a chill pill.
Xanax, maybe? One of those THC gummies? Or maybe just a good, stiff drink.
Of course there’s no actual bill yet. We know that. Relax.
Maybe it’s that I’ve spent something like 45 years of my life within an hour’s drive of the Capitol, and read the WaPo daily for decades, but this is just how they talk about things around here. It’s nothing to get excited about. It’s a convention. The fact that the bill itself is (sort of, see below) unwritten, and what’s going to be in it is in a state of flux, doesn’t make it an unreasonable convention.
Probably 95-99% of what’ll ultimately be in BBB has already been drafted. (I’d guess about 450% of the bill has been drafted already, if you include all the parts that have been written but ultimately won’t be included.) When the final calls are made about what’s in and what’s out, the text will come together quickly.
So relax. It’s really not important that the bill proper hasn’t been written. If it had been written, they’d just have to tear it up and rewrite it a few more times before this is all done. So have that drink, chew that gummy, pop that pill.
Adam L Silverman
@Woodrow/asim: No, the blog serves one master: Cole. I have explicit instructions from him to keep doing what I’ve been doing trying to explain exactly just how much danger we’re in, just how bad things actually have gotten, and just how hard it will be to survive this moment. If I didn’t have that, I wouldn’t do it. This is not Watergirl’s blog, your blog, my blog, or anyone’s other than Cole’s blog. We are all his guests. And we’d all do well to remember that. If he wants me gone, I’m gone and no one here will ever see nor hear from me again. Until then you’ll have to live with it.
prostratedragon
I guess that extra t keeps Metta World Peace from suing.
Juju
@Ksmiami: Thanks. I probably didn’t need to add that tidbit of information, but most people tend to wonder why I’m not on any social media, and rather ignorant of the terminology. I had a student tell me that even his grandma was on Facebook.
guachi
Adam needs to sit down and take a breath. I think we all realize there is no actual bill with a number. You can stuff your exclamation marks. This post provides zero value to anything. Between this post and WaterGirl’s post, I’ll choose her post.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Excellent point. I think it’s a fine thing if people want to organize, inform and raise money, but tbh, if that’s all the blog did, I wouldn’t read it. It can go too far, but I like the back-and-forth, the debates, etc. If we can’t discuss politics here because it might discourage someone, where the hell else can we discuss it?
germy
“Our political differences suddenly seem insignificant.”
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
We need Adam’s expertise and perspective. I’m not here for one voice or message – I appreciate the diversity of thought and experience that John has attracted to Balloon Juice.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Since Cole hasn’t pulled WaterGirl’s keys, we can assume that he is okay with what she is doing. It is possible that the two of you both provide different but valuable content.
Woodrow/asim
I am disquieted that me writing a comment of concern about a front-page approach — one I strove to write as respectfully as I can — is being met with what feels like a threat around participation here. A reminder that “the blog serves one master: Cole,” as though my connotation on the term “master” was not clear.
I have a great deal of respect for your knowledge and work, Adam. I would not have reposted your words elsewhere, multiple times, on a number of matters you have knowledge on, if not.
Yet this? This seems off. If the audience here has no say, and the only voice that matters is Cole’s? That’s not the experience I recall.
As I recall (and I might have it off): Cole became Cole because many commentors here at the time pulled him, sometimes kicking and screaming, away from the Conservatism he started this blog with. He engaged them (I wasn’t here at that point, but I’ve read a number of threads) in robust discussion — and, when Terry Shivaho(sp) happened, there were people ready to accept him as breaking off from the GOP.
When Cole dubbed Obama the Magical Unity Pony, we again discussed and debated it with him. Many of us didn’t accept that framing of then-Senator Obama, and Cole eventually moved away from it.
That didn’t make the commentors right. I mention because this space wasn’t a one-way dialogue.
If Balloon Juice is no longer that space, where respectful (or even not so…) engagement of ideas from front-pagers happen — where “I was wrong” is allowed from all involved — then I must question my use of time, here.
Ksmiami
@Adam L Silverman:No – The blog serves one true master. Tunch and ghost of Tunch. Just ask Cole…
Adam L Silverman
@Woodrow/asim: I’ve been questioning my use of time here since the new blog went live. My intention was to simply go poof with the old one. But Alain, TaMara, Levenson, Cole, and a few others asked me not to. It would have been better if I had.
lowtechcyclist
@Adam L Silverman:
And this post of yours had nothing to do with any of that.
I know we’re all Cole’s guests, and in general I’m sure you’re doing what he hopes and expects you to do. But that isn’t a blanket Cole endorsement of every post or comment of yours. “If he wants me gone, I’m gone and no one here will ever see nor hear from me again. Until then you’ll have to live with it.” Sure, and hopefully that day won’t come to pass. But whether it does or doesn’t, you’ll have to live with pushback when you may have gotten it wrong, especially when you’re posting about a topic where commenters here may know as much as you.
Chris Johnson
@Ksmiami:
Silverman, if you have Ksmiami working alongside you, I think it’s time to have a good thing about what the hell you think you’re doing. Dude was making terrorist posts this morning and nobody seems to care. What are you doing making ‘argh everybody panic’ posts?
If you’re going to claim you have special knowledge of what the most fucked-up saboteur people are going to do, and if you escalate in this way, I’m going to ask why are you doing that. What the hell? Why are you so certain you know where the proverbial bomb is placed and how it’s gonna go off? Some of us aren’t at all convinced that is a thing.
Geminid
@Adam L Silverman: Well, you add a lot of value in your posts and comments. You certainly have my respect, and I am far from the only one. Not that this would neccesarily make the effort worth it.
Ksmiami
@Adam L Silverman: I’m glad you’re here and preparing at least some of us for the inevitable dangers /fight we face. Let’s not be frogs in boiling water- ps any advice on counter insurgency?
Ksmiami
@Chris Johnson: Ahem. counter terrorism posts… I’d never start anything, just finish it.. and truly the other side wants to murder our representatives and us so probably best to at least admit it.
Juju
@Adam L Silverman: You’re fine. You are a level headed, tell it like you see it, I yam what I yam sort of fellow, as far as I can tell. I don’t know why people are so upset. No one is forcing them to read what you write, or even all of what you write, just as they are not obligated to agree with you. I don’t know why everyone’s undies are in a bunch. I think you add a lot of worthy discussions to this blog and I would miss your presence.
Winston
In the meantime, I’m just amazed at my ability to turn beer, wine and vodka into urine.
Juju
@Winston: I do that with coffee.
Subsole
@Baud:
I am truly sorry their parents fucked up raising their children this badly…
debbie
@Kay:
This is a full-service blog, no? Was I misinformed?
zeecube
I wonder what Kasie Hunt’s spin will be after the Dems bring up paid leave as a standalone bill, and the Senate Republicans refuse to vote for cloture? Answer should what she should have said today: elect more Democrats.
taumaturgo
@Woodrow/asim: Translation. We don’t appreciate you bursting our bubble and waking us to what’s real, we prefer false promises and pretense and hate the effort of holding anyone accountable, except for liberals and Bernie bros. Easy targets.
debbie
@zeecube:
Kasie’s getting a fair amount of blowback for her misbegotten tweet. My personal favorite:
Or this:
dimmsdale
@Adam L Silverman: Adam, if you ever depart these premises, and set up *something* (blog, website, whatever) on your own, sign me up as a subscriber instanter. I’m not here enough to be able to weigh in on all the “ur doin it wrong” comments, except to say you’re doing exactly what I’d wish given your background and experience. Thank you for that.
Ksmiami
Welp. house is going home for the weekend so they get to torture us all next week too. Great.
mrmoshpotato
Holy hell! I’m not reading enough or closely enough.
I was under the impression that there was an actual bill being debated (and modified) before voting.
Thanks for clarifying that.
Adam L Silverman
@mrmoshpotato: They argued over and passed a budget resolution that set up the reconciliation process. Then Senator Sanders released a $6 trillion or so framework, as the budget chair and after consulting President Biden and the other Democratic leaders in both chambers, for what should go in the actual bill. That was the “we’re only getting one shot, ever, so let’s do everything right now” list of what was supposed to go in. That got negotiated down to a $3.5 trillion compromise and a new framework was released. That appeared to have consensus for a few days until the regular order hard infrastructure bill passed the Senate and then Manchin, Sinema, and 9 or 10 House Democrats balked. This kicked off the past six weeks or so of chaos. There is draft language for different parts of what will hopefully become the Build Back Better bill, but there is no coherent, complete bill written as such. And certainly not to the framework released earlier today. Though as David indicated in the next post, the House Democrats quickly filled the gap. Unfortunately, the House isn’t where the action is on getting this started, which is the Senate. The House will be where the action in on getting it finished depending what the Senate Democrats do.
Adam L Silverman
@dimmsdale: Thanks for the kind words. I’ve got nowhere else to go. If I were to stop here, I’d just stop.
Adam L Silverman
@Chris Johnson: I’m not making everyone panic posts. I’m trying to get people to actually understand the reality of the situation we’re actually facing rather than pretending that blog posts highlighting things that may or may not ever be in legislation that may or may not ever be written is an effective tactic to achieve who knows what.
If you’re worried about demoralization, we’re going to get a test of that next week with the VA gubernatorial election. That will be an early indicator of just how bad things may be in 2022 and 2024. But I can tell you that one way to avoid demoralization is to recognize the actual problems and face them head on, not continually delude yourself and others.
As for Ksmiami, I have no idea what he or she wrote this morning. When I see Ksmiami go over the edge in the comments to my posts or others I ask them to dial it back.
Adam L Silverman
@Woodrow/asim: There’s no threat. You write what you want, until/unless if violates what Cole has laid out for banning someone, you write whatever comments you want. All I’m saying is I don’t own this place, or a piece of it, and neither does anyone else except Cole. That’s it. I’m sorry if that was not clear.
HinTN
@The Moar You Know:
Just because, here’s some Sly and the Family Stone
youtu.be/3JvkaUvB-ec
HinTN
@Betty Cracker: That’s all well and good but I don’t enjoy Adam talking down to me or anyone else. I get that we need his hair on fire take because, dammit, it’s true. But… I also know how the sausage gets made and I trust Uncle Joe with this. If either of those bought and paid for preening wannabe lobbyists deep six it at the last minute, we’ll watch Nancy Smash real close, won’t we.
HinTN
@Adam L Silverman: I think not.
HinTN
@Juju: I do that with both, and water even though it rusts my pipes.
HinTN
@Adam L Silverman: Kos says we shouldn’t be taking the MSM need for a horse race as a sign of what’s happening in VA. I tend to agree …
HinTN
I’ll go snooze somewhere else now.
Ksmiami
@Adam L Silverman: I didn’t write anything except just to be prepared if Sinemanchin sink Biden at the last minute. And I meant that internally. Like we can protest at their offices etc
Kay
@debbie
I don’t know why this is so confusing. You can have organizing posts and politics posts. That’s it. That’s my whole point. You don’t have to choose.
It doesn’t have to be one thing or another. You can have Adam’s posts about how democracy is careening toward a cliff (true) AND you can have WG’s posts about how to message the BBB bill. One is organizing and the other is not. People do both things.
Adam L Silverman
@Ksmiami: I was just correcting an assertion. Despite being assured otherwise, repeatedly, by email, my admin privileges disappeared shortly after the sight rebuild was finished. When I asked why and asked for them back, it caused a problem with the person who lied to me and then tried to gaslight me and Cole about it. Which is why I’ve largely stopped acting as a moderator.
Ksmiami
@Adam L Silverman: but WE NEED you… this Revolution won’t conduct itself
quakerinabasement
@Woodrow/asim: Thanks for that. You speak my thoughts.
tybee
@dimmsdale:
+1
I run a day or so behind in reading this blog so I often can’t comment when a topic is hot but Adam is a very integral reason why I continue to read here…
Nobody in particular
@Adam L Silverman:
Adam, though it may sound trite to us now just to suggest it; in a very real sense, Americans are in a great deal of denial about a great many things most of the time. All of us. And probably to a lesser extent other citizens around the globe. The only “woking” that ever went on here happened in the last century and was fueled by psychedelics.
Nobody in particular
Little Dorrit